The sun didn't rise.
Not in this land.
Ash hung like smoke. Silent. Endless. The trees were dry bones. The wind didn't blow. The world had forgotten breath.
And in the middle of it…
He walked.
Barefoot. Cloaked in ragged black. Eyes half-closed, as if sleep and death were twin brothers. A soft crackle echoed with each step. Burnt earth. Fused sand. Blood long dried.
Rei didn't speak.
Not to the corpses he passed. Not to the voices that whispered in the static of his broken dojutsu. Not to the thing crouched in his shadow, dragging its claws behind him.
He had crossed into the Wailing Zone.
Where the dead don't rest.
Where sound dies before it reaches the air.
The place where Konoha's greatest sins had been buried.
Where even Danzo had dared not walk.
"Subject 22," the voice came, not from air—but from inside his skull. Mechanical. Female. No emotion.
He didn't respond.
"Estimated bio-levels have dropped. Your chakra is unstable."
Still no answer.
The sand at his feet stirred.
A hand clawed free. Then another. Then five. Then twenty.
They weren't shinobi. Not anymore.
Pale faces. Hollow eyes. Red seals burned into their foreheads like cursed halos.
Failed Root experiments.
Danzo's forgotten army.
The dead that wouldn't die.
One hissed. "O…ne of…us…"
Rei's head tilted.
The thing behind him stepped forward.
It didn't have a name. Not anymore.
Just a shape.
Too many eyes. Too many teeth. Skin like liquid shadow.
The moment it moved, the dead screamed.
Too late.
The ground cracked. The air shimmered. Something uncoiled from Rei's eye—sluggish, violet, flickering like a dying star.
His Broken Dojutsu.
One pulse. One ripple.
And everything—
Exploded.
The sky bled light.
Time bent.
The sand turned to glass.
Silence returned.
Not peace. Never peace. Just quiet.
The creature behind him melted back into shadow.
Rei exhaled.
Finally.
He reached the gates.
They weren't made of stone or wood.
They were bones.
Stacked high. Woven with hair and etched with seals that screamed if you looked too long.
Beyond them—was the Shrine.
Where the First Root began.
Where Danzo had made a deal with something older than chakra.
And inside it… was the key.
To fix his eye.
Or lose himself completely.
He placed his hand on the gate.
A whisper passed through his bones.
"Turn back."
He didn't.
The gate melted at his touch.
He stepped through.
Inside… darkness.
But not empty.
Something was breathing.
Slow. Ancient. Dreaming.
He walked across the floor of ribs. Through pillars made of fused spines. Past murals drawn in dried blood.
And then he saw it.
A throne.
Made of masks.
An empty figure sat on it.
No face. No chakra.
Just presence.
Like gravity.
The being's voice didn't echo. It arrived in your skull like a scream turned inside out.
"You wear the Eye."
Rei nodded once.
"You hear them?"
Rei glanced sideways. The shadow behind him grinned.
"Yes."
The being shifted.
"You are the third to arrive here."
Rei's eyes narrowed.
"Who were the other two?"
The being leaned forward.
"The First… gave up his soul."
"The Second… tore out his heart."
"And you…"
It stood.
No footsteps. Just pressure.
"What will you offer?"
Rei didn't speak.
His dojutsu flared.
The world blurred.
In that moment, he saw everything.
The past. The war. The project that birthed him. His original body, floating in a tank. The voice of Orochimaru. The lies of Kabuto. The laughter of the masked man.
And in the center of it—
His own face.
Alone. Broken.
Unmade.
He clenched his fist.
"I'll offer what they couldn't."
The being tilted its faceless head.
"Which is?"
Rei's voice cracked the air like thunder.
"Myself."
The shadow behind him screamed.
Not in fear.
In hunger.
Rei turned.
Faced it.
For the first time.
"You're not me."
The creature laughed.
"You were me. Before you broke the seal. Before you heard the echoes."
Rei raised his hand.
His dojutsu burned.
Purple lightning crackled around his fingers.
"I don't need a shadow anymore."
The creature lunged.
So did Rei.
The throne room collapsed in light.
Screams. Laughter. Shattering time.
The being on the throne watched it all.
Unmoving.
Then, slowly…
It smiled.
The Gate behind Rei slammed shut.
The Shrine vanished.
And outside…
The sun rose.
For the first time in years.
End of Chapter 115